


Learning, slowly

by jellyfishline



Category: Free!
Genre: Communication Differences, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 05:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5526797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellyfishline/pseuds/jellyfishline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even after they start dating, there's still a lot about Haru that Rin doesn't know. Sometimes, he just can't keep his curiosity to himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning, slowly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phia/gifts).



> Crossposted to my tumblr as part of a Free! secret santa exchange. [**Featuring bonus fanart!**](http://jellyfishline.tumblr.com/post/135892993087/my-free-secret-santa-gift-for-wildharu-they)

“When did you realize you loved me?”

Rin's not sure why he says it. The words slip out of his mouth as easily as the wind off the waves.

Haru responds without missing a beat. “Who said I loved you?”

Rin slaps at his shoulder. “Yeah, you're letting me spoon you because you hate me. Sure. What was I even thinking?”

He goes back to watching the sun slip nearer and nearer the horizon, fattening like a pancake as it approaches the sea. Rin's chalked up the attempt at conversation to a lost cause when Haru speaks.

“...you first.”

“What?”

“You first,” Haru repeats. “When did you first know you loved me, Rin?”

Rin splutters. “H-hey, I asked you first!”

Haru's face is impassive. Rin sighs.

“I... dunno,” he mutters. “I guess I didn't really think about it like that. I never really thought, hey, this kid is really gorgeous and he pisses me off like no one else, it must be love.”

He pokes Haru's shoulder. “C'mon, your turn.”

“...you didn't answer.”

“Yes I did!”

“You didn't,” Haru insists. “ _When_ , Rin. When did you know.”

The truth is, Rin doesn't even have to think about it. It's just... embarrassing to admit.

“The first day I met you,” Rin says. “When I saw you swim, okay? That's when I knew.”

Haru goes quiet. Haru's always quiet, but when he's thinking, he gets so quiet that Rin could swear his heart stops.

“Well?” Rin nudges him. “That good enough for you? C'mon, say something.”

The wind whining at the tide is the only sound. Rin's about to nudge him again when Haru finally speaks.

“When you went to Australia the first time,” he says, quietly. “You were gone, and... that's when I knew.”

Oh. Shit.

Rin kisses him. Like some kind of stupid, belated apology. Rin would say that they were both such stupid kids, but honestly he's not sure he's gotten any smarter than he was back then. _Damn_.

Haru pulls back first, far enough to look Rin in the eye. “I have a question,” he says.

“You make me answer first, and now you have a question? Geez.”

Rin tries to kiss him again, but Haru grabs him by the collar of his shirt. “Rin.” Haru's eyes are serious.

Rin relents. “Fine, sure. What?”

“When did you realize I loved you back?”

“Oh, easy,” Rin says. “Last week. You made steak instead of mackerel. I knew it was love.”

“ _Rin_.”

“Hey, you want a real answer, don't make me go first twice in a row.”

“Fine,” Haru snaps. “Always.”

“Always? Always what?”

“I've always known you loved me,” Haru says. “Since we met.”

Rin blinks.

“W-was it really that obvious?”

Haru gives a sort of one-armed shrug. “You kept trying to get my attention. It was obnoxious,” he adds, like Rin's not fully aware of that.

“Yeah, but—what, you think everyone who tries to get your attention is in love with you?”

Haru frowns. A small frown, one that means, _why are you playing dumb?_

“Nobody else tried,” he says. “Not like you did.”

Rin thinks back to that sullen, silent boy with the stupid haircut, and he can see why. Only a real jackass would try to make friends with someone who so clearly said STAY AWAY in their every motion. But, at the same time, Rin reels at the thought of Haru going unnoticed, uncelebrated—Haru, so vivid, so beautiful, so _talented_ , going unappreciated. Never in a million years would Haru deserve to be ignored.

“The question,” Haru prompts.

“Oh, right.” Rin shakes off the clammy memories of middle school. “Uh, what was it again?”

“When did you realize I loved you,” Haru sounds like he's reading off a script, but his eyes are serious as the middle of a tournament.

This time, the truth takes Rin some thinking. It wasn't the day of their first date—Rin asked him out on a whim, but he already had a strange certainty that Haru would say yes. It wasn't the day they met, hell no—for the longest time he was sure Haru hated his guts. And for the longest time, Haru probably did.

The answer, when it comes, is so stupidly simple it's astounding that it took him this long to see it.

“The first time we went to Australia together,” Rin says.

The answer seems to surprise Haru. “Why?”

“I don't know. I guess I just realized that we weren't as different as I was afraid we were. That, y'know, maybe we had a shot at... whatever this is.”

Haru seems to accept that. He settles down in Rin's arms again.

The light narrows, and brightens, and fades.

In the dark, the sand starts to rapidly cool. Rin shifts. His leg is falling asleep, and there's gonna be a major crick in his neck tomorrow.

He prods Haru's back. “Hey, wanna head in—”

“I love you,” Haru says.

The words dry up in Rin's throat.

“Uh. Okay.”

“I love you.” Haru turns in Rin's arms to face him. “ _I love you._ ”

There's a strange manic, panicked glint in his eye. Rin recognizes it. It's the same look Haru always wears where he goes through one of his sudden, intense bursts of affection. Rin puts his arms around Haru's shoulders, pulling him close.

“I know. I love you too.”

There are these times, these moments—these little glimpses into Haru's head where Rin can tell that Haru wants to say something, but he can't. Or won't, or just doesn't know how. As easy as it is for Rin to put words to the things he feels—too easy, sometimes—it seems impossible for Haru to do the same. What's funny is that Rin can say the sappiest things all day long, but the slightest word from Haru has his knees going out. Their weaknesses align just like their strengths.

Slowly, slowly, Rin is learning to be patient, and Haru is learning to be kind. It's a difficult, blind kind of learning, but they're working it out.

Haru nestles into Rin's neck. Rin weaves his fingers into Haru's hair, rubbing slow circles into the back of Haru's skull.

“I know, Haru,” he says. “I know what you mean.”


End file.
